Creed number 6- I can keep the charge

I can keep the charge - Israelmore Ayivor

“All that Adam has, all that Caesar could, you have and can do ... Build therefore, your world”- Ralph Waldo Emerson.

I once had a patient in my ward whose bad health condition turned into a testimony by a practical application of a self-can-do spirit.

It all happened when a colleague patient, G.Y in the bed next to M.K’s bed seemed to have recovered so rapidly from his ailment and was to be discharged while M.K was still battling with his mobility impairment.

Seeing G.Y walking, M.K shouted aloud till almost all nurses in the hospital yard could hear him saying; “I can also walk, yes! I must”. This exercise of faith made M.K to stand carefully from his bed unto his pair of legs. With his mouth still repeating these words of encouragement, he gripped the frames of the bed with his hands with the fear of falling. He then took a deep a deep breath and begun to release his hands carefully from the support. To his mute surprise, he did not fall! More surprisingly, he begun to move his legs, and alas, he walked a distance of about five metres.

To me, the observations and assessments I made on M.K informed me that M.K had recovered from his ailment earlier, but for the fear linked to how he felt at the onset of his indisposition, he couldn’t realize it. He thought he cannot walk all because of fear!

As a matter of fact, each and every one on earth has a reason for being sent here; a divine purpose of him/her being created. The only problem that enshrouds us from doing what we were sent to do is our inability to realize the potentials we have to turn things around to celebrate our successes.

Our ability to make something great, commences from the moment we exercise our abilities to appreciate the undeniable fact that our future is rightly present in our own palms. You owe it to yourself to decide whether to make your daily song that you are capable of doing what you dream about!

“You have the brains in your head;

 You have the feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.

You are your own. And you know what you know.

You are the guy who’ll decide where you go”- Dr. Seuss

Are you among the numberless folks whose daily dreams are to make great impacts on the planet you arrived on years ago? It will seem and it will be very difficult for you to be counted among the great achievers God produced, if your doubts keep nailing your brains against statements like “I can’t”, “I am too small”, “I will fail” etc. Whenever you think you can’t, just “knock the ‘T’ from the ‘can’t’...”, said Samuel Johnson. Guess your new word; “I can” it is!”

Every human being who lags or remains without something to die for, actually have to acknowledge the fact that he or she has a great problem. Can you guess what that problem could be? The “…problem is you’re holding too busy holding onto your unworthiness”- Ram Dass.

“It’s not who you are that’s holds you back. It’s who you think you’re not”- (Attributed to Hannock McCarthy)

It is time you believe you are destined to make it great in your career, education, attitude and talents and win in your own style. Never occupy your mind with thoughts of incapability, impossibility and inability. Behold “nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside of them was superior to circumstances”, said Bruce Barton.

“If you hear a voice within you say “you can’t paint”, then by all means, paint, and the voice will be silenced”- Vincent Van Gogh.

Paul Tillich advised every aspiring achiever; “The courage to be is the courage to accept oneself in spite of being unacceptable”. Yes! As you dare to pursue your dreams and achieve, just behave within yourself as if you are already wearing the crown of success now!

Don’t waste your precious time presenting yourself as a failure. You have the ability that someone out there doesn’t have, but is making it very greatly. I guess that’s what Sa’Di was saying that “People are crying up the rich and variegated plumage of the peacock, and he is himself blushing at the sight of his ugly feet”. Oh no! You must not inculcate that unappreciative attitude of the peacock. You can make it greater and bigger with what you have. Focus on it. Karen Ravn in a short poetry shared;

“Only as high as I can reach, can I grow.

Only as far as I seek, can I go.

Only as deep as I look, can I see.

Only as much as I dream can I be”

Most people provide reasons why they can’t do something and these reason become excuses that erect big barriers between them and their bright future. They want to see the whole staircase before taking up their steps. It doesn’t always work like that. Listen to what James Allen said; “If your real desire is to be good, there is no need to wait for money before you do it. You can do it now, this very moment and just where you are”. But “if you do not believe you can, you have no chance” said Arsene Wenger.

“I know who I am. I don’t have to brag. I know what I contributed. I know what I did. You think you can do it better? Hey, go right ahead; the stage is yours”- Al Lewis.

“You can do what you have to do, and sometimes, you can do it even better than you think you can”, said Jimmy Carter. By this quotation, I believe Jimmy was just acknowledging the power that God has deposited in us with which He does exceedingly, abundant things on earth;

“….able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we can ask or think, according to the power that works in us”- Apostle Paul (Ephesians 3:20)

God has destined you for greater things. Just accept this fact and never ever doubt in your heart what you are capable of doing through the power God deposited in you! Say it with passion; “I CAN MAKE IT”!

Note the following points;

1. ·        You are in God’s mind
2. ·        God must also be in your mind
3. ·        Your future in God’s mind
4. ·        God must also be in your future thoughts
5. ·        You are your own best friend
6. Believe by the grace of God, YOU CAN MAKE IT.

“A great deal of deal talent is lost to the world for a want of a little courage. Every day sends to their graves obscure men whose timidity prevented them from making a first effort” – Sydney Smith

 

The charge to keep:

All of lives consist of many chains of responsibilities to be discharged. Duties and choices confront us on hourly basis, obligations stir us up in the face and all that we need to do is to fulfill their pressing requests if they prove themselves to be purposeful.

As a matter of fact, God is fully aware of the responsibilities we were sent for and for that matter, He correctly deposited specific gifts, unique to each and every one and expected “a strict account” of the duties he requested.

Once there is a duty to fulfill, or “a charge to keep”, there will definitely be a potential to work the duty out. Dr. Myles Munroe said “Potential is only manifested when you make demands on it. Therefore the key to your potential is your willingness to work”. That potential is “ability” and the assigned duty is a “responsibility”. God gives the “ability” so that we can “respond” to the “responsibility”, and that ability gains its roots from the passion to fulfill the responsibility.

Matthew Henry’s commentary on Charles Wesley’s hymn “a charge to keep I have” provides us with an in depth insight into the awareness of our calling. It reads;

“We have, every one of us a charge to keep, an eternal God to glorify….. a needful duty to be done, our generation to serve and it must be our daily care to keep the charge, for it is the charge of the Lord our maker who will shortly call us to account about it and it is our utmost peril if we neglect it”

What then could we say is the simplest definition of “a charge”? Many definitions exist and may seem relevant, but this concept focuses on the lines as follows;

“A charge refers to a property, a person, thing or an event that is entrusted into the cares of someone, back by a relevant potential to do so, supervised by the charge giver and assessed through a strict account”

“A property” could be a congregation, a school, a hospital, a family or any related task.  “A person” could be a student, a nurse, a doctor, a king or a family head. “An event” could be a ceremony, a crusade, an emergency, a predicament or even a joyful moment.

A trustee is the one into whose care the property, thing or event is put into and is this person is endowed with the a potential and tasked with an account. That is to say whatever you are born to do, you are equipped to do! And also whatever you are equipped to do, you will be asked to account for it. The trustee in one way or the other is given talents, gifts and added to them is the ability to utilize them for his charge keeping assignment excellently.

The superior of our charge is Jehovah who will one day open His hands to receive the breakdown of how wise or foolish we have used the precious treasures of talents, how successful or failing we had been and finally accord us with a reward or punishment to whoever deserves it. That is the main reason why Charles Wesley called it “a strict account to give”.

“Every human being has a work to carry on within, duties to perform abroad, influences to exert, which are peculiarly his and which no conscience but his own can teach”- William Ellery Channing

In our charge keeping duties as aspiring achievers, we have to acknowledge the features of our business; else, we will run the Lord’s company down into liquidation. And guess the reward of collapsing God’s business venture; this Matthew Henry called “our utmost peril”. There are five (5) main features of our charges as follows;

 

A God to glorify:

The superior of our charge said through his trustee Moses in the scriptures; “Keep the charge of the Lord…”- (Leviticus 8:35). The Lord’s commanded commandments and more regulations around which He expects us to turn our visions around. All we have to do is to trust and obey.

 

A calling to fulfill:

Everyone has been called with a specific talents and gifts. We are expected to work within our scopes of calling and work perfectly with all commitment. That’s what Martin Luther King Junior said that; “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep the street even as Michelangelo painted or as Beethoven composed music or as Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep the street so well that all hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a street sweeper who did his job well”.

 

All powers to engage:

Power refers “potential” or “ability” and is used to “respond” to a “responsibility”. Why should we engage “all” but not “little” or “part”? The answer still boils down to the fact “strict account”. Carry Grant put it this way; “my formula for life is quiet simple; I get up in the morning and go to bed at night. In between, I occupy myself as best as I can”. There is no doubt that if God send you to go and build 100 castles on earth and you came to build 99 and the last one is an “uncompleted” building, you are one of those unfaithful charge keepers!

 

A strict account to give:

We will go back to our supervisor sooner or later and there we will be expected to present a report on how we run the charge keeping business. Yes, that’s how Christ always put it; “I must be about my father’s business”- Luke 2:49. Erma Bombeck published how she hopes to present her account. She wrote; “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single talent left and could say ‘I used everything you gave me’.

“Christians are not left in the world by accident, but are placed there on divine assignment from their Lord”- John Macarthur

 

As an aspiring achiever hoping to make every you out of your God given talent, take note that God have deposited every relevant potential in every talent just as He put big trees in a small tree. “You came into this world, pregnant with unlimited potential”- Dr. Myles Munroe. The fact that you are still alive is an evidence to prove that you still have something, a peculiar charge to keep.

“Here is a test to find whether your mission is finished. If you are still alive, it isn’t”- Richard Bach

Don’t waste your life pursuing immoral activities that only ruin your dreams. Don’t engage yourself in social vices that only corrupt your ideal purpose. Don’t accommodate criminal adventures that only demoralize and defame your true beauty. All they do is to assign you to a counterfeit charge and you waste all your seventy years plus more chasing vanity and carnality and profanity!

Rise up to day. Say you can do it! Start declaring and making steps and make great impacts with the task you were programmed to do even before the world was created. In actuality, it doesn’t matter how bad your life had been. God still loves you and wanted to save you and then give you back your dreams!

God still get something to do with you!

PREFACE

The authors of the book 12 Creeds for Aspiring Achievers are four young, talented and prolific graduates from tertiary institutions in Ghana who are the Pacesetters of IMPACT WEB.

IMPACT WEB is a motivational and life-coaching network whose main activities are targeted towards;

·        Encoding students and the general public with positive thinking attitudes that will sooner or later help them to set realistic goals in life;

·        Equipping clients with skills of decision making so as to help them to avoid making wrong choices in their day to day activities;

·        Educating the general public on good health practices that will help promote their standard of living each and every day;

·        Encouraging, directing and guiding the youth in order to help them to carve out respective careers from their inherent talents.

These main objectives are meant to be achieved by the portals of Conferences (L.C.N Conference), Seminars (Impact Talk Show), Transformational one-on-one talks, Counseling Sessions, book publications etc. by the network for Students (at all levels of Education), Apprentices, Parents, the sick in the hospital and Religious bodies.

This book 12 Creeds of Aspiring Achievers happened to be the first book written by IMPACT WEB. 12 creeds of Aspiring Achievers was mainly written to help all readers to develop a positive mental attitude which is one of the most powerful strategic ways of living. It was identified that most people do not succeed in life just because of the mere curable fact that they are suppressed by low self-esteem that keeps them on the melancholic side of impassionate living.

With the ideas and dynamic Creeds in this book, one will discover the belief that he/she can do what other great achievers did and can do it even better than tevery aspiration, dream and plan that youth of today make should not remain untapped. Rather, those dreams should serve as the pivots along which the loads of the world will turn.

What makes 12 Creeds of Aspiring Achievers so unique is the collection and appropriation of inspirational quotations from great achievers in whose footprints every reader of this book is hoped to step and move steps further.

Remember, power lies in the tongue and every word spoken out of our minds tends to carry heavy weights of life-changing statuses. Just get up each morning and affirm any of the Creeds in your life and wor towards its fulfillment.

IMPACT WEB hopes to see you at the top, RECREATING YOUR WORLD!!!

·        Cephas Tornyi (cepskwat86@yahoo.com)

·        Gilbert Mensah (mensah.gilbert@yahoo.com)

·        Kpogli Wisdom (wisdomexornam03@gmail.com)

·        Israelmore Ayivor (israelive@live.com)

CREED NUMBER 5: I am raising the bar

I am raising the bar - Israelmore Ayivor

“People of excellence go extra mile to do what’s right” – Joel Osteen

“A bar” in the sports discipline call “high jump” is a piece of rod, wooden or plastic which is used to determine the maximum height a person can jump up to. In high jump, the bar is placed at a level between two poles and is raised inch by inch after each successful jump until the optimum altitude or height is determined.

The journey to excellence is just like participating in a high jump and for that matter requires that a person yearning and working for success works hard to raise his personal standards after each and every attempt or effort.

“Achievement is largely the product of steadily raising one’s level”- Jack Nicklaus (Professional golfer)

There are people who cannot go higher in their endeavours because they do not know they can be better. As an aspiring achiever, never leave yourself to be fooled by complacency. Dare to ask for more, raising your level each and every day!

“If you are any good at all, you know you can be better”- Lindsay Buckingham

A student who is always content with his average grade marks will not be enthusiastic about improving that level to a higher height. To move from the hut of mediocrity into the edifice of excellence, you have to be fully convinced and readily prepared to raise the bar for yourself and others as well.

“In today’s global economy however, it is important to raise the bar of excellence even higher. Today’s student must be prepared to compete effectively on the international level”- Kenny Merchant.

A brief research into the history of high jump records from the past Olympic Games forms the basis of this concept. It reveals to us a tremendous knowledge that should tell us that today’s excellence is tomorrow’s mediocrity. Ask why? It is because every high jumper comes and employs new techniques to break existing records and set new records as evidenced by the height of the bar going up and up and up over decades.

“Start early and begin raising the bar throughout the day”- Bruce Jenner

The sports skill started collectively in Russia and America where partakers used a routine method by running “straight on” to the bar and jumping over it and the first record booked in the 19^th century was 1.68 metres height.

Later in the 20^th century, the skills changed and consequently, the records also changed. Michael Sweedney, American, introduced a new skills called the “Eastern cut-off” exercised by taking off like a scissors, extending his back and flattening out over the bar. A constant practice of this skill set him to break the existing record, raising the bar to 1.97 metres in 1895

“Do your best and be a little better than you are”- Gordon Hinkley

In the year 1912, another American named George Horine also brought a skill called the “Western roll” and increased the height of the bar to 2.01 metres. He did this by approaching the bar diagonally and using his inner leg to take off while the outer leg was used to thrust up to lead the body sideways over the bar.

“Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way”- Booker T. Washington

Cornelius Johnson improved Horine’ technique and raised the bar 2.03 metres higher in 1936. Next came Charles Duman’s who practiced “Straddle technique” over and over and raised the bar to a height of 2.13 metres in 1956.

John Thomas was also among the record setters in the Olympic Games and lifted the bar to 2.23 in 1960 after which Valeriy Brummel kept the record title from 1961 to 1664 and raised the bar to a height of 2.28 metres and a later got into a motor accident that ended his career.

Another technique that became popular from 1968 till today is the “Fosbury flop” practiced by Dick Fosbury by directing his body over the bar, head and shoulders first, sliding over on his back and landing himself in a fashion which would likely have broken his neck in the old sawdust landing position. He used the “Fosbury flop” to raise the bar and won the 1968 Olympic game despite he couldn’t break the existing John Thomas’s record.

Vladimir Yashchenko used Charles Duman’s 1956 “Straddle technique” to raise the bar to lift the height once more to 2.33 metres in 1977 and later to 2.34 metres in 1978.

Today, the current record was set in 1993 by Javier Sotomayor, Cuban who raised the bar to 2.45 metres which other high jumpers are promising to break soon.

What should learn from the records?

• 1.      Some of the record breakers used personally generated skills with which they practiced and emerged. Take time to develop your own skills to raise your bar.
• 2.      Some of them slightly modified previously used skills to suit their structures and broke the records of those initial users. Learn from Booker T. Washington who said “Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way”. In other words, “excellence is doing the ordinary things extraordinarily well”- Thomas Peters.
• 3.      Past records became insignificant over time. As new records arrived, the previous records became mediocrities, confirming that today’s excellence is obviously tomorrow’s mediocrity.

“Life is like riding a bicycle; to keep your balance, you must keep moving forward”- Albert Einstein.

Every step you take with a positive intension lifts you into the mood for moving forward with your dreams. The only advice to take here is “don’t lose balance”. A very simple effort to change the level of your bar today is an obvious way of opening the doors for bigger lifting up of the bar tomorrow.

“One change always leaves the way opened for the establishment of others”- Niccolo Machiavelli

Always dream about creating new stories, rather than boasting about your past glories. Past glories are enough to make you focus on a better future.

“I like the dreams for the future better than the histories of the past”- Thomas Jefferson

As an aspiring achiever, there are specific steps to beware of as you begin to set yourself up for a higher bar. These are simplified in the acronym I.M.P.A.C.T as six (6) tools for raising the bar of excellence.

INFORMATION:

Albert Einstein said “information is knowledge” and stressed that its’ a tool for paving a broader way. Information is the light we use to find our dark ways out. When information comes, ignorance flees.

Information exists in two forms; the good and the bad. Information could be beneficial or detrimental. Good information properly used becomes beneficial while bad information used any how is strictly detrimental. Good information wrongly used is equally detrimental as the use of bad information.

Sources of information include the libraries, text books, lecture or lesson notes, pieces of advice, internet, and etc. One typical area where a good source of information is almost always used wrongly and produces a detrimental effect is the internet. This happens when users take advantage of this media to download dirty movies, pornographies and open unnecessary sites to appeal to their unwholesome egos.

MOTIVATIONS:

“People say motivations don’t last. But neither does bathing. That’s why I recommend it ever y day”- Zig Ziglar (American Motivational Speaker).

Everyone daring to lift the level of his bar needs to be motivated to do so. Two sources of motivations exist; extrinsic and intrinsic sources. You may receive motivations from people like counselors, Preachers, friends, relatives etc., and those are from extrinsic sources. However the other side of the sources of motivation that makes you retain all those motivations is the intrinsic source also know known as “self-motivation”. Self-motivated dreamers are those who have a very little to entertain about “inferiority intensions” under whose Lordship your tendency to give up becomes easy. Self-motivation is to get up and tell yourself that “yes I can… yes, I qualify for it”.

“Stay away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that”- Mark Twain, rather mount the shoulders of giants and you will see farther than them, raising your bar inch by inch.

Karen Miller exercised this by courageously saying “when someone tells me “no”, it doesn’t mean I can’t. It simply means I can’t do it with him”. This is a great saying to relief signs and symptoms of intimidation and inferiority that kept people static for ages now. Tricia Cunningham sent an advisory note to all “naysayers” saying “the individual who says it is not possible should move out of the way of those doing it”

Join groups that inspire you positively and motivate your to take on the future with courage.

POSITIONS:

“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the council of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of the sinners, nor sits in the seats of the scornful…. He shall be like a tree planted beside the rivers of waters…” Psalm 1:1, 3.

Position describes where you put yourself and where you put yourself is by far a very big tool to create who you become. Everywhere you stand, or sit or walk produce something out of you and that something is a product produced by the position.

A student cannot be depositing himself at “fan fairs”, “night clubs” and “dating corners”, etc. when his friends are learning in the classroom and still expect to have the same level of bar as they have. Wherever you put yourself gives you whatever it gives.

I was watching a football match between Chelsea FC and Manchester United FC years back and I happened to discover through that game the major role that position plays in determining our success. It all happened when Chelsea played their optimum skills and earned 60% ball possession against their opponents’ 40%. However the end result yielded three goals against the dominant Chelsea team. What really made the team to lose was the miss-position of their goal keeper which made them conceded the goals. The ambitions of the 11 men in the blue jerseys sunk narrowly as this number 11 blue jersey bearer almost always deposit himself on the “off-side position” and whenever the ball is being passed to him, the whistle blows and the flag goes up.

Are you putting yourself in the right position or you are always “off”? Remember not every position welcomes victory!

ATTITUDE:

“Your attitude, not your aptitude determines your altitude”-Zig Ziglar

Psychologists define attitude as a learned tendency to evaluate things in a certain way. This can include how you evaluate people, how you address issues, how you confront other, how you respond to events etc. Your aptitude defines your natural ability or tendency. Your altitude describes the heights of your bar.

As a matter of fact, your researchers also discovered that there are several different components that make up attitudes and relating them to this concept, we have a few as;

• a.       An emotional component: How one feels about a circumstance or an event especially that related to your past glories and present histories.
• b.      A cognitive component: What you think is real or factual about an incidence, be it a vision you dream to achieve.
• c.       A behavioural component: How your evaluations influence your actions.

An attitude could be explicit or implicit. Explicit attitude is the kind with which we are fully conscious of it and it influences our behavioural patterns in our awareness. Implicit attitudes remain unconscious and yet still also influence our sense of beliefs.

Based on few experience, we choose to evaluate things in certain ways. That is our attitude. Many people have negative attitudes that tells them that “it’s impossible” and it’s very unfortunate these are the people who remain static because their negative attitudes have an influence on their motion to raise their bars

CONSTITUENCY:

Constituency according to this concept refers to external or internal constituents or factors that support or rejects your nomination for setting higher standard. In politics you will identify that a stronghold constituency for a candidate is the area where this candidate obtains majority of the votes casted.

In this concept, your stronghold constituency is not a physical geographical location that gives you power to rule, rather the talents and skill constituted in you that makes you reign and believe it or not those talents are unique to you. 

You can’t live in the stronghold constituency of someone and sail through easily.

The whole world heard of many footballers like Ronaldo, Messi and Rooney. We can also testify of the talented goal keeping skills of Oliver Khan, Van der Sar and Dida, just to mention a few. The former list belongs to the constituency of footballers and the later, goal keepers. Just think of how ridiculous and awkward it will be for Ronaldo or Messi to decide that he is now going to the goalkeepers’ constituencies. Likewise Oliver Khan will also perform abysmally when given the chance to function in the later constituency.

TEAMWORK:

“Two heads are better than one” says Ecclesiastics 4:9.

Some said TEAM means Together, Everyone Achieves More. It is very true and nothing less! Team work has raised the bars of many folks in the world’s history;

The first to list here are Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright, popularly known as Orville brothers who worked together and invented the first airplane though the sharing of mechanical ideas and skills to raise the bar globally as far as 17^th December 1903.

Next are John Wesley and Charles Wesley co-operate founder of the Methodist church, affectionately called the Wesley brothers. They worked together as missionaries and raised their bars high to a height difficult to attain even today! John Wesley died on 2^nd March 1791 at age 88 with over 40,000 individual sermons preached. Charles Wesley died on 29^th March 1788 with uncountable number of poems written and more than 6500 Christian hymns written. All these happened because of committed team work.

In 2006, the highest scientific award in pharmaceutical industry known as Discoveries award went to three scientists; Henry Davies Jnr, Margaret Van Heek and Kevin Alton for the discovery of Zetia. Zetia is a drug used to break down cholesterol level of patients and advanced “statins” which existed twenty years ago. Zetia was used to treat cardiovascular diseases and is 400 times potent than other best drug with the same desired effect. This is excellence through team work. Through this team work, Davies, Van Heek and Alton saved lives of millions of patients.

“Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome”- Samuel Johnson

                                          

Creed number 4- I am staring small- Israelmore Ayivor

"I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplished small tasks as if they were great and noble”- Helen Keller

Every great achiever had started with a humble beginning. No success had ever been acquired overnight. Great castles and big monuments we see today also started with a single block. “A journey of thousand miles” Lao Tzu said “must begin with a step”. It means that as an aspiring achiever, you “don’t wait for something bigger to occur. Start where you are, with what you have and that will always lead you into something greater”- Maryn Manin Morrisey

To some dreamers, the only obstacle that creates wide barriers between them and their future accomplishments is “how to start”. If you have a vision to accomplish, you have to bear it in mind that your vision will get processed into a product within a time interval before becoming a reality. Start small and improve on the little you do constantly and something great will come out that dream within a period interval.

You want to leave a mark on the earth, isn’t it? Then “take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step”. - Martin Luther King Jnr.

A packet of a ready product is made up of small pieces of the same brand. Success comes in the same way but not bundled in one pack. You receive a little bit today, a little bit tomorrow till you have accomplished everything you were sent for. Vince Van Gogh agreed with this by saying “great things are not done by impulse; but by a series of small things brought together”.

Anyone willing to have his purpose come to fulfillment needs something to spark himself to work; thus the spirit of “starting small”. Below are four (4) major keys you will need to unlock the gates and start small;

Desire:

“Desire is the starting point of all achievements; not a hope, not a wish; but a keen pulsating desire which transcends everything”, said Napoleon Hill. Desire, also known as passion, is a strongly compelling emotion to do something. It is different from “like”. When you like something, you do it at the time the interest arrives but when you desire something, will are willing to do it with commitment! Passion is a drive or an enthusiasm that can carry you far to break every chain to do what you want. Desire could be profitable or unprofitable. An unprofitable desire is called “lust” which is not a virtue, but a vice.

Thought:

“First come the thoughts, then the organization of the thoughts into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning as you will observe, is in your imagination”- the words of Napoleon Hill. You can and must imagine a big dream, no controversy. However, your thoughts must tell you it is possible and this gives you the hope to start!

Courage:

Sarah Ban Breathnach said “Begin today. Declare out loud to the universe that you are willing to let of the struggles and eager to learn through joy”. It takes courage to open a new set of pages in your life. Courage is an inward declaration of personal willingness to do something you have resolved to do. With courage, you shout and say “all is right, and I can do it now”! Once the thought is achievable, backed by desire, courage says “let’s go now!”

A step:

“A journey of thousand miles must begin with a step”, said by Lao Tzu. Without a step, your desire and your thoughts are wastes. Without a real step, you are like a well fuelled vehicle, sparked with exhaust coming out of the pipes and under the vehicle are four flat tyres. What can you go with those four flat tyres? You can’t go anywhere! You will only waste the fuel because if you say “I want to get a hell out of here”, the flat tyres will reply “We won’t allow that shit”. It does not matter the amount or type of fuel in the vehicle; the “leg” must be changed since they contribute the movement. With all set, “start small”.

These four keys above will enable you to “start small” and “start well”. However, you don’t remain as a “small starter”. Make use of available opportunities to grow with in time. This is how children do it; they first learn to sit, then they begin to crawl, improve by rising and later walking and eventually, they can run.

On the other side, you cannot be a good beginner if you do things that do not welcome success home. Below are four behaviours that keep others unable to start what they dream about.

Professional state desire:

Anyone with this desire wants to star big! He or she despises humble beginnings. It is good to dream big, as bigger as the blue ocean. But don’t forget that that blue ocean also started with a single drop of waters. It’s just like despising the size of a seed, meanwhile, it is that small seed that produces trees that bear fruits that contain seed that become trees that bears fruits that contain seeds that become trees that produce fruits that contain seed and so one seed becomes a very thick forest within a given period of time.

Alan Cohen advised; “don’t wait until the conditions are perfect to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect”. Mark Victor Hansen agreed by adding; “don’t wait until everything is right. It will never be…get started now!” With each step, you take; you will grow stronger and stronger, skilled and more skilled, more and more self-confident, more and more successful.

Practicing excessively:

Most people think confidence lies in an excessive rehearsal. It’s true that man has to prepare, plan and practice before projecting his purposes. But a time must definitely arrive when man has to put an end to learning and rehearsal and start practicing what he spent time learning. Yes, “a time comes  when you need to stop  waiting for the man you want to become and start being the man you want to be”, said Bruce Springsteen. Marilyn Grey stressed on it; “life is not a dress rehearsal. Stop practicing what you are going to do and do it. In one bold stroke, you can transform today”. A little advice here; Get on board. There is an experience on the field of justification than on the camp of practicing.

Pronounced defeats:

It is common to hear that most people who remain aspiring achievers till their call bell to eternity rings have negative affirmations that they confirm on themselves. This is in a way seeming to be a launching of defeat against oneself and results from the fear of the future. Fear is a ghostly pit that contains hopeless bones of people who don’t dare to win. Don’t fall into it. Here are some three (3) common negative affirmations that “a tomorrow’s failure” will use to defeat himself;

1. 1.      I will do it next time: Today was the “next time” of yesterday and tomorrow will be the “next time” of today. You see, a person who said he will do something great tomorrow had probably said the same thing yesterday. Don’t allow your mouth to be fooled with procrastination. Stop it now and “start small” today.
2. 2.      I am not sure it will work: This is an announcement to the whole world that you are defeated in your own single-man battle; thus you battled alone, yet you couldn’t win, and so you were defeated. Imagine you being the only player on a football pitch and you predicted a defeat for yourself. A person with such a thought can never be a beginner.
3. 3.      People did better, what else can I do? : If you have this inferiority intensions, you can never begin because you see yourself in an athletic competition where people are about to cross the end-line and you are yet to join the race. Don’t judge your ambitions using someone’s potential. You have a potential, the weight of which is unique to you. Work within this gifted potential.

It is your time to shine and let the whole world glorify the father for a great deal of plans He set to work through you. Get started now!

Creed number 3- I won’t give up - Israelmore Ayivor

"If you feel like giving up, remember why you held on for long in the first place”- Anonymous

Monaliza once held a bunch of keys in her palm with the intension of opening a door. Unfortunately, she could not identify the particular key that would open that door. She tried the first key only to find out that it couldn’t fit into the key-hole. She tried the second which fitted alright but could not turn. She tried the third which also failed. After trying the first four keys out of the nine on the bunch only to discover their incompatibility with the key hole of the door, she turned her back to the door and departed. She couldn’t get access to the treasure she sought for again!

Have you ever experienced that before? What do you do if the first few keys failed you? Go on. There are more keys on the bunch. Try again and again to the last key. The last key on the bunch may be the one to unlock your door of opportunities.

Every achiever had faced challenges before. Whether you explore into the affairs of religion, politics, leadership, and even studentship, you will have your own respective share and peculiar versions of challenges. These challenges do nothing that trying to stop you from attaining an expected end. It takes a personal affirmation through a strong will to continue and reach the top without keeping long on the half-way!

Henry Ward Beecher led us to the fact when he confirmed the difference between perseverance and obstinacy. He said “the difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that, one comes from a strong will and the other from a strong won’t”. Both are important to an achiever. Perseverance says “I will endure to the end” and obstinacy adds “I won’t turn back; if you are on my way, you have only two options. Either you give me a way to pass or you remain and I will bore a hole through you and find my way”!

With a strong will not to quit, you say to your obstacles; “if I lose everything I have and I still get me, you are still in trouble because am coming back with full vim”. Perseverance according to Walter Elliot “is not a long race. It is rather many short races run one after the other”. Better to rest in between the short races of Elliot, and continue ever after, than to quit you “long race” you imagine lies ahead of you. Though you get tired the more you run, the more you run, the closer you get to your accomplishments. The nearer you are to success, the harder the journey becomes because more energy had been invested into the race already! Remember always that “perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did”, says Newt Gingrich.

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how closed they were to success when they gave up”- Thomas Edison

It is so futile and wasteful for one to give up when the time is almost up for him to celebrate his success. In life, when you feel like giving up, just remember why you held on for so long in the first place. “Winners”, Vince Lombardi said “are not quitters” and I am very sure that no quitter has ever won. Don’t be discouraged in anything because the last key among the bunch may be the one to unlock your door of opportunities.

When drops of rain quit falling, they cannot make holes in the rock. Persistence and endurance makes you leave impacts on earth. This is how Lucretius put it; “the drop of rain makes a hole in the stone not by violence, but by oft falling”. How often have you tried stepping up against the challenges you encounter as barriers? How many holes so far have you created in those barriers to have your way out? It’s not too late!

It is real sometimes that the destination to success seems far, but a determined person would say although it seemed so, he is closer to it now that yesterday! On the way to discover your success treasures, you may open the door of opportunities with the last key on the bunch, only to find another door inside the opened door which also needs to be opened before you get your gifts and this can only be actualized with persistence. Never, “never give in, never, never never, in nothing; never give up in except to convictions of honour and good sense” – Winston Church Hill

You may ask “how does a person give up”? “Giving up” is different from “changing”. You need a mind change of method if your method only produces wrong results. It’s like using the wrong formula with the intent of getting a right answer which is highly impossible. “Change” is one of the beneficial opportunities “failure” can offer anyone. By changing your mind, you can tell yourself that you can try again using another approach. This is “change” not “giving up”. A person is said to give up when he stops doing what he was sent to do without marking the summit of it, as evidenced by unattained goals.

There are many factors that contribute to “giving up” on a dream. They are challenges that a determined aspiring achiever should bear in mind and overcome.

 The following are seven (7) main reasons why people become quitters;

 

Poor preparation:

A task poorly prepared for will only do the best that a lorry does when it is out of fuel. Or fair enough, a fuelled vehicle with the driver’s feet on the brake pads. A poorly prepared person is linked to the five (5) foolish virgins that the scripture talked about in Matthew 25 who were compelled to give up because of unpreparedness. To prepared means to set aside points, values, deadlines and clear lines of action as far as goals are concerned. A usual saying reads; “Prior preparation produces peak performance” and in the same vain we can say “proper preparation prevents poor performance”. Poor preparation leads to the following three (3) points;

1. 1.      Pointlessness: A person without a clear definition of goals and purpose will have no clear action to take.
2. 2.      Procrastination: A person who lacks preparation extends tasks into the future since he meets things that must but dealt with by well thought schedules.
3. 3.      Perplexed mood: Once with an undefined goal, one will be perplexed since he will not know of where to start and where to end.

In every pursuit, prepare before you set off since there is only a thin line that exists between success and failure. That thin line is “Preparation”.

 

Lack of determination:

“The main reason why most people fail is because they tend to look at how far they still have to go instead of how far they have come”- Anonymous. Looking at the journey ahead, people are likely to quit on comparing the number of potholes they jumped over to the number they need to jump over again! At a point, all unseen voices will mass up in one tune to tell you; “give up”! Beware of those voices because the same voices will tell you “thumb up” when you at last persist to triumph.

 

Inability to pay the cost:

Most people also quit because, they are unable to pay the cost of fulfilling their dreams and eventually, their purposes. Most of these people think success is as easy as a night dream. Sorry to say “success is not bagged on the silver platter”. Neither is it day dreamt. Rather, it is bargained for and worked for and paid for in the expected currency. You can’t be an achiever without determination, persistence, endurance and persistence. These qualities differentiate a dream worker from a mere dreamer.

 

Fear of competition:

Competition never kills because it has never killed anyone before. People are easily defeated when they see others doing what they can do in a far better way. They however reject all hopes that they can make it to that level. If you think like this, you will forever be a quitter. Start in a small way, but let the sky be below your limit.

 

Lack of Change:

To succeed, you need to switch onto a better attitude, a better value, a better relationship and better goals. Some people are willing to make indelible impacts in their fields of endeavor, but their current attitude cannot accommodate success. All they need is to reconstruct their parlous estates and they will welcome success in a ceremonial way. It’s only two things; either you change or you quit. “Decide what you want. Decide what you are willing to exchange for it” (HL Hunt). You don’t need money or meals to change yourself; “what is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself”, said Abraham Maslow.

 

A Search for pleasure:

It is unfortunate that people are more conscious of associating success with happiness. Happiness may be listed among the features of success anyway, but cannot be the success itself. In any case, over consciousness of pleasurable entertainments lead people into premature spendthrift folly and this leaves them broke. To them, all about success is “rise and chill”. People with this mental attitude only resort to withdrawal when things seem though!

 

Wrong definition of failure:

People who hold wrong perceptions about failure can never bear success badges on their chests. Dictionary defines failure as “lack of success” or “a person who is unsuccessful”, no controversy. That is from the dictionary anyway, but to great achievers, this definition is incomplete until you add words of hope to it and these words of hope make failure seem beneficial. To great achievers, failure is an opportunity, or a privilege, or a credit to really put you on course. Henry Ford proposed that “failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, and this time, more intelligently”.

The greatest concern of Abraham Lincoln about failure is “whether you are content with your failure?” This question will either make you to quit or to try again depending on the answer you would provide. Lincoln suggested “it is better to try and fail than not to try at all”. Winston Churchill agreed by declaring, “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm”. Dare to fail and you will succeed at the end of your trial.

“Every failure brings with it the seed of an equivalent success”- Napoleon Hill

“Just because you fail once doesn’t mean you’re gonna fail at everything”- Marilyn Monroe

“It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed”- Theodore Roosevelt

“Only those who dare to fail greatly can achieve greatly”- Robert F. Kennedy

 

As an aspiring achiever, you need to have many dreams and “if one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces, never be afraid to pick one of those piece and begin again”, said Flavia Weedn.  Don’t listen to mockeries and insults from people. Their attitude shouldn’t make you to give up on your dreams. Rather mount the shoulders of giants and you will see farther than them!

When it seems all hopes are lost, you can still go. Franklin Roosevelt said “when you get to the end of the rope, tie a knot and hung on”. Get something to stick yourself to, the knot is enough. If you don’t stick or hung on something valuable, you can’t get there; “consider the postage stamp. Its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing till it gets there”, said Josh Billings.